Sun hat



United States Patent SUN HAT George Hurst, Cieator, England Application April 3, 1956, Serial No. 575,829 Claims priority, application Great Britain April 4, 1955 1 Ciaim. (Cl. 2--177) This invention has reference to improvements in sun hats and has for its object to provide an attractive lightweight and cheap hat capable of being collapsed, when not in use, into small compass so as to be conveniently carried in a ladies bag for example.

According to the invention a sun hat consists of paper or equivalent pleated from a rectangular sheet joined at its two opposite edges to form a tube which is gathered together at one end and restrained from opening by a string or the like threaded through the pleats, and in combination a spreader is provided for fitting inside the gathered end to maintain a conical shape when the pleated sheet is opened out, and chin ribbons are secured inside the hat.

It will be seen that the hat may be opened out into conical form having the appearance of the cover of a pleated paper parasol, the spreader fitted and the hat then secured when being worn by tying the chin ribbons. When not in use, the spreader is removed, whereupon, by flattening the pleats, the hat may be folded into a compact elongated bar-like package, being tied if desired by the ribbons hanging therefrom.

In order that the said invention may be readily understood, an embodiment thereof will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the hat opened out and ready for wearing;

Figure 2 shows one half of a plan thereof (the other half being removed merely for convenience);

Figures 3 and 4 are sectional elevations of the two parts of a spreader device drawn to a larger scale;

Figure 5 is an elevation showing the hat partly collapsed;

Figure 6 is an inverted plan view of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an elevation showing the hat fully collapsed;

Figure 8 is a plan view thereof; and

Figure 9 is an enlarged view of part of the pleated body of the hat, in section, to show the fastening of a chin ribbon.

The body 1 of the hat is made from a rectangular sheet of paper with zig-zag parallel pleats, and the ends are attached together at 2 (Figure 6) to form the pleated sheet into a tube. At one end of the tube the pleats are closed tightly together and held against opening by a string 3 threaded through the pleats and tied. Thus the pleated body will open into the conical form seen in Figure 1. In closing the conical form is squashed together as in Figures 5 and 6 and the pleats closed together whereupon eventially the compact solid collapsed article as in Figures 7 and 8 is attained.

When opened out into the conical form a spreader device is used to maintain this shape. The spreader is advantageously a two-part device of a plastic material, wood or equivalent, one part (Figure 4) being conical at 4 to fit inside the apex of the extended conical hat and having a short threaded spindle 5 extending axially from and outside its apex, while the other part (Figure 3) is also of conical shape and hollow as at 6 with an internally threaded socket 7 extending axially from and inside its apex. By this construction the latter part 6 can be fitted on the outside of the hat with its socket member 7 passing through the hole made at the apex of the gathered pleats, and the former part 4 can be screwed thereto by means of threading its spindle 5 into the socket 7.

Chin ribbons, strings or the like 8 are attached diametrically opposite one another to the interior of the hat at a suitable distance from the apex thereof, and may be secured in position by fitting one of their ends between the folds of a pleat as in Figure 9 and stapling them at 10 through the pleat.

I claim:

As an article of manufacture, a collapsible sun hat, comprising, a substantially conical-shaped body including a plurality of rectangular elongated pleats, a fiexible element passing through one end of the pleats to provide a restricted opening at said end, and a two part clamping device for holding said body in said substantially conical shape, said device including an inner memher having a conical flange for engaging the inner edges of the pleats adjacent the said flexible element and also having an axially disposed elongated spindle for entering said restricted opening, said spindle provided with outer threads for a portion of its length, and an outer member comprising a conical flange mating with said inner conical flange and also having an axial depending internally threaded socket for engaging with said outer threads of said spindle, the said spindle and the socket when threaded together adapted to maintain the outer member in spaced relation with respect to the inner member to hold the body set up for use in self-sustaining conical form without crushing the pleats between the flanged portions of said members to render the hat re-usable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 244,315 Ross July 12, 1881 1,614,231 Cosgrove Jan. 11, 1927 2,047,009 Dearing July 7, 1936 2,136,925 Ristell et a1. Nov. 15, 1938 2,623,213 Provitola et a1. Dec. 30, 1952 2,677,132 Marks May 4, 1954 

